Absolute Zero
by dharmawrites
Summary: Fire melts ice into water. Water extinguishes flames. He was a burning coal that could barely be contained, and she was a frozen shell that felt nothing. They were never meant to be together.
1. Chapter 1

_**Ehhhhhh. Writer here. This is a really short prologue to the story. Please enjoy.**_

For Katsuki Bakuguo, winter was like a disease. He dreaded the cold, and even if he could manage to keep himself warm because of his fire based quirk, he still hated the sight of snow. Ever since he was a small child, before he developed a quirk, he had hated it. It was mostly because the cold was nothing but a parasite in his eyes; leaching the warmth out of anything and everything it came into contact with.

He was in the snow now, wearing a pair of winter boots that were barely held together by the cheap stitches that lined it and a light blue coat with faux fur lining the inside. His cheeks, still chubby with baby fat, were rubbed raw and red from the bitterly cold air while his small childlike hands were wrapped into fists with sparks of red fire springing from the uncovered skin every once in a while for warmth. It was a school day, but the roads had iced over so badly that Katsuki's mother had allowed him to stay home.  
The sky was clear of clouds, and the sun shone down with a clear brilliance, but despite that, it only seemed to make the temperature seem colder. Tilting his head back to stare at it with narrowed eyes, Katsuki lifted his hand to the sky and made a fist. The sun was up there, but it's warmth was unattainable, hidden behind a blanket of cold. It briefly reminded him of a god sitting atop the heavens, looking down on the world with a cruel justice.

He shivered. "It's cold..."  
The crack of ice made him whip his head to the left. The temperature seemed to drop even more, if that was even possible, and Katsuki felt his eyes widen against his will as he looked at the figure in front of him. The first thing he noticed was that it was a girl, and an exceptionally pretty one too, but that was overshadowed by the fact that she wasn't wearing anything except a plain white dress that reached her knees. Her hair was long, and trailed down her back in curling tendrils of silver, while her dark blue eyes were fixated on Katsuki's feet, wide and curious.  
Katsuki stared at her, his mouth slightly agape. Her gaze unnerved him, and for a brief moment of panic, he laugh she would say something about the deplorable state of his winter boots. "Hey," he said with a scowl twitching onto his face. "What are you looking at?"

It came out ruder than he intended, and he resisted the urge to flinch at his acerbic tone. To his surprise, the girl didn't answer and instead pointed at his feet. Katsuki growled in his throat, ready to throw away any kind of civility he possessed and snap at her, but just as he was getting ready to yell, she spoke up.  
Her voice was alarmingly soft and held an air of faint wonder to it, and Katsuki had to strain his ears to hear her. "The snow is melted."

Katsuki looked down, and to his surprise, the girl was right. The snow at the base of his feet had melted into a puddle of lukewarm water, and was now soaking into the fabric of his boots. He let loose a yell of alarm and jumped back, creating a path in the snow with his heat. The girl's eyes watched his movement for a moment, then went back to the puddle. A crease formed in her brow as she took a step forward, and Katsuki saw that her feet, which had previously been hidden by a flurry of snow she was standing in, were bare. The most amazing thing was, she didn't even seem bothered by it.  
As Katsuki watched with muted amazement, the girl reached down and placed her fingertip on the surface of the water, and it froze over almost instantly. The girl's expression softened into a placid look. "Fixed it," she said.  
"Aren't you cold?" Katsuki asked harshly, his voice painfully loud and harsh compared to the soft ringing of her's. The girl looked up, surprised at how angry he sounded.  
"No," she replied in her monotone voice. "Are you?"  
Katsuki opened his mouth to answer, but he was cut off by an icy hand wrapping around the base of his wrist, right where the warm refuge of his coat sleeve ended. He flinched, choking on his words in shock as he attempted to pull away. The girl looked confused as she experimented with her grip, testing different strengths. Katsuki ripped his hand away, unable to bear the pain anymore.  
"You're warmer than the others." She said simply. "The others freeze when I touch them."  
"What the hell!" Katsuki yelled angrily, tugging down his coat sleeve to cover his damaged flesh, which was cracked and bleeding. A few drops dripped to the ground and hit the snow, burning right down through the white blanket until it hit the ground. The girl's eyes widened with a mixture of fascination and curiosity. His quirk flared up on it's own, sparking an angry flame in the palm of his hand."You're like ice!"  
"I know." She said it casually, as if she were used to people commenting on it. Feeling a bit guilty, Katsuki sighed and looked her over. She couldn't have been any older than ten, which made them about the same age.  
"Is that...your quirk, then?" He asked, a little unsure of himself. The girl shakes her head, looking down at her hands. Katsuki hadn't noticed it before because of how pale her skin was, but there was ice forming at the edges of her fingertips.  
"This isn't my quirk, I'm just colder than other people." She said stoically. "But Daddy says I'm not supposed to use my quirk. He says it's too dangerous."  
Katsuki frowned. "Quirks are meant to save people. How is your's dangerous?"  
The girl paused, lifting her eyes slowly to meet his. There was a silent battle in them, and for a moment, Katsuki saw a blizzard reflected in them. A spike of fear rolled up his spine that was colder than the air around him.  
"My quirk is meant to kill people," she said, her voice louder than before. "It killed Mommy."


	2. Chapter 2

"Is it hard not being able to use your quirk?"  
Midoriya was sitting on the school's roof, eating his lunch. It was a place he usually spent his time, mostly because it was the only place Kacchan didn't think to look, but it wasn't until a few months ago that another person joined him.  
Taking a sip from his juice box, he glanced down at his notebook. It was laying open, with his pen in the crease of the two pages to hold its spot, which had a drawing of a small girl with short choppy hair and a stoic expression. The top of the page was titled "Snow Angel", and Midoriya had gone through the trouble of decorating it with snowflakes.  
"Not really," came a soft voice. Midoriya glanced up and looked towards the edge of the building, where a girl sat with her legs dangling off the side of the building. She only had on a white blouse and pleated skirt despite the slight chill in the air, and her white hair met with her jawline harshly, as if she had cut it herself. A while ago, she had told him it had been long, but she decided to cut it all off when she entered middle school. "Is it hard not having a quirk?"  
The question took Midoriya aback, but he wasn't surprised with it. Over the months they had spent up here, side by side, he had grown accustomed to Higumo's abrupt personality and brash questions. He rocked back on his heels for a moment before he spoke.  
"Yeah," he admitted. "It is. It's really hard."  
Higumo paused in her leg swinging and looked over her shoulder, ocean blue eyes bearing into Midoriya's dark brown ones. A beat of silence passed and a nervous sweat broke out over Midoriya's skin.  
"It's ironic," Higumo said. "You want to so badly be a hero, but you're useless in any situation that would require one."  
Her tone was indifferent, but the words themselves were harsh enough to make Midoriya flinch. He looked down at the ground as his lungs filled with a painful breath. She was right, of course. If there's one thing he learned about her, it was that she was almost always right, no matter the situation. Nibbling on the end of his straw, he looked back up at Higumo, only to see that she had returned to staring out over the horizon.  
"You're like me." She said after a long while, breaking the silence between them. Midoriya blinked in surprise at her statement. She had never expressed any desire to be a hero before now, and for her to cast aside her desire so easily, like it was trash, made him angry. He sighed and climbed to his feet. His juice box was long empty, and he tossed it into the trash can a few feet away. One shaky breath and two steps was all it took to reach her, and once he did, his hand hovered over her shoulder. Higumo had told him that when she was younger, her body temperature was cold enough to freeze water just by touching it, and although she had learned to control it over the years, she was still frigid to the touch.  
"Don't talk like that," he said. He ignored his discomfort and gripped her shoulder in a reassuring manner. The cold seeped through the fabric of her shirt and into his hand, and he resisted the urge to pull away from her. "You may not think your quirk is all that great, but I'm sure it's awesome! So what if you can't use it now! Until you can use it to save lives, you can just be a stationary hero!"  
It wasn't until the words were out of his mouth did Midoriya realize how lame it sounded. He yelped quietly and released Higumo's shoulder, an embarrassed blush spanning the length of his freckled covered cheeks.  
"Stationary hero?" Higumo asked, looking up at Midoriya. Her blue eyes were curious and brimmed with amusement, and there was a silent laugh in her voice. She stood up, a rare smile on her face as she took Midoriya by the hand and led him back to his things. Her hand was cold, but Midoriya was more overwhelmed with the fact that a girl was holding his hand. A strange noise that sounded a lot like a strangled cat escaped his throat, but he quickly shut his gaping mouth to avoid any other involuntary sounds.  
"You can be one too, then."  
Midoriya blinked and stared at her, shocked that she had made such a bold comment. "Huh?"  
"Izuku Midoriya," she stated with authority ringing in her voice. "You are talentless, plain looking, and pretty much useless in every scenario. But even if you don't have a quirk, you have more drive and ambitious than anybody else here, and I believe that one day, you will be a hero."

###  
The next day was warmer than before, and Midoriya woke up to his mother shaking his shoulder, attempting to rouse him from his slumber. Once she saw that his eyes were open, she squealed happily and ran over to the window and yanked open the curtains. Amber sunshine filled the previously dark room, and Midoriya squinted at the sudden change of lighting.  
"Mom?"  
"Get up, Midoriya!" She said darkly, her eyes brimming with a strange cocktail of panic and joy. "There's a girl here."  
The fact that she said it so seriously was enough to catch Midoriya off guard. It had to be Higumo, because that was the only person it _could_ be. He yelped out loud and fumbled in his sheets, attempting to free his legs, but the fabric that had wrapped around his ankles was a force to be reckoned with, and he ultimately went tumbling to the floor, half of his body hanging out of bed. His mother screeched and pulled him up, then rushed over to the closet and pulled out some clothes.  
"Get dressed!" She said as she hurried out of his room. "I need to entertain your girlfriend before she gets tired of waiting and leaves!"  
"She's not my-" Midoriya shouted after her but got cut off as his bedroom door slammed shut. With a scowl, he rubbed his tired eyes and looked over at the clothes his mother had picked out. A pair of black slacks and a formal shirt and jacket were tossed over the back of his computer chair, and Midoriya felt himself groan. Shuffling over to his closet, he pulled out his usual outfit -a green and white track suit- and got dressed hurriedly. Throwing open his bedroom door and taking a step out into the hallway, he was acutely aware of voices coming from the kitchen.  
"So how long have you two known each other?"  
"Not long. We met by accident, really."  
"True love is no accident!"  
Midoriya felt a mortified blush creep onto his face as he rushed into the kitchen before his mother could say anything else crippling to his already sullied reputation.

Higumo was sitting at the bar, nursing a cup of tea between her hands. Her eyes had tilted back towards Midoriya at his rather loud entrance, and the first thing he noticed was the bruise that spanned the length of her left cheekbone. It looked recent, and it looked painful. If Higumo knew about Midoriya's curiosity, she didn't say anything, and instead turned back to his mother. A pleasant smile was on her lips, but the corner's twitched, and Midoriya could tell it was forced.  
"Thank you for the tea, but Midoriya and I have to go now."

"Oh, you're welcome! Please come back anytime! Don't be shy!"  
Higumo slid out of the bar stool and walked straight for the front door, then turned her head to look at Midoriya. She jerked her chin, motioning him to follow her, and he swallowed thickly. Waving goodbye to his mother, he chased after her, a worried expression on his face.  
Once they were outside, Higumo let out an impatient sigh, tilting her head away from Midoriya, who gawked at her. She appeared to be watching something at the corner of the street, and he followed her line of sight only to see empty space.  
"Your mom is nice." Higumo said, and Midoriya snapped.  
"What _happened!?_ " He demanded, positioning himself in front of her so that they made eye contact. From here, he could see that she had much more than bruise. There were scratches along her neck and her hairline was spotted with dried blood. "You look like you got hit with a bus!"  
"I tried being a hero," she said simply. "It didn't work."


End file.
